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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26975512">Good, Now</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_nb/pseuds/h_nb'>h_nb</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Asher [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Broken Bones, Collars, Conditioning, Creepy Comfort, Dehumanization, Drugging, Loss of Memory, Mild Gore, Pet whump, Whump, Whumptober 2020, fuzzy memories, just bc rebreaking bones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:28:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,306</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26975512</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_nb/pseuds/h_nb</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whumptober Day Twelve: Broken Bones</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Asher [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952164</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Good, Now</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Usually, Asher woke silently, staring at the side of the bed he slept beside on the mat. Usually there was a routine that Asher walked himself through without thinking, a routine that carried through most of the day and Asher could be good without thinking about it.</p><p>But this morning was different, this morning was tinged with a pain that Asher wasn't used to feeling. There were aches and pains throughout his whole body, but the focal point was his finger, which radiated such an intense pain that from the moment Asher woke up he involuntarily jerked at the sudden painful feeling, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from making a sound.</p><p>He barely remembered yesterday, it had been a whirl of soft blurry lights, jeering laughter he didn't recognize, and pain he couldn't remember receiving. He didn't remember falling asleep, either, he only remembered the pain becoming overwhelming and then there was nothing at all, and then he was awake again, staring at the side of the bed like he always did, only this time with sharp pain pulsating from his fingers.</p><p>Quietly as he could, Asher shifted, pulling his hands from their protected position against his chest to stretched a little ways in front of him. He stifled a gasp when his eyes fell upon his fingers. They were crooked, and bruised a terrifying shade of colors. Every incidental twitch sent pain streaking like lightning up his arm and through his whole body. Asher bit back a whimper as he stared at his clearly broken fingers, desperately trying to remember how this had happened and coming up with nothing, only the vaguest, blurry memories.</p><p>Where had he been yesterday? It had been...different, it had started out the same but something had changed, Asher could remember the brief feeling of cool night air on his skin and how it made him shiver. He remembered a chorus of unfamiliar laughter, and how it had made his skin crawl. And now he was here in the morning, with painfully broken fingers and other aches and pains throughout body, dulled only because the pain in his fingers was so piercing.</p><p>He sat up slowly, collar shifting against his throat as he swallowed. In the bathroom, it took extra long to take care of himself, and every moment was plagued with the fear that Master would come in and he would have done something wrong, taking too long. He didn't know for sure, but then, he never did, not until it was too late and he had messed up too much.</p><p>Asher cradled his broken fingers, carefully obscuring them with his other hand as he left the bathroom and headed down the stairs, immediately and silently taking his place kneeling next to Master. An apology danced on his lips, but he bit it back with the pain, not volunteering to speak until he had been given permission.</p><p>"Where were you, pet?"</p><p>"I'm- sorry Master." Asher's voice wavered with the pain he withheld but he kept back the stutter, and Master didn't ask for anything further.</p><p>The day continued as it almost always did, in a monotony that Asher could usually let pass by as long as he followed through the right motions. But today, every slight movement sent a new sharp pain, and staying still only made the throbbing and aching more poignant. Asher couldn't escape this hurt, and fear kept too strong a hold on him to say anything to Master. Had he done something wrong? He couldn't remember it, but he must have, for it to hurt this bad. But if he brought it up, he hadn't learned what he did wrong, even though he couldn't remember. So Asher continued to bite the inside of his cheek and covered his broken fingers with his good ones and stayed stone still throughout the day, both obedient and frozen in fear and indecision.</p><p>After a day that felt like an eternity, the sun had sunk underneath the earth and a chilly darkness had set over the house. Master turned his full attention to Asher, setting aside his book.</p><p>"Show me your hands, pet."</p><p>Asher's stomach flipped, but with shaking hands, unfolded them and revealed the bruised and broken fingers Asher had done his best to avoid looking at or thinking about all day. Master lifted them with his hands, and tears began to gather in the corner of Asher's eyes as his oversensitive fingers brushed against an examining hand. Asher's heart was going a mile a minute, and he was sure he wasn't breathing as he stared at Master, trying to stay obedient through his fuzzy, pain-addled brain.</p><p>Then Master said, "Good." and stood, exiting the study briefly. Asher's throat felt like it was clamped shut, with only a thin whistle of air making it through his rattling chest. When Master returned, Asher's eyes immediately darted to him, questions on his lips but not a sound escaping them.</p><p>Master must have found the questions in his eyes, because as he lifted Asher's hand again he began to speak. "You don't remember the gathering yesterday, but I allowed a colleague of mine to do this as a favor."</p><p>Asher clamped down on a sudden influx of doubts and questions, eyes flicking over the items that were laid out. A folded piece of thick cloth. One red pill. And three splints. Asher swallowed tightly, looking to Master again.</p><p>There was no anger on his face, only the barest traces of a smile as Master picked up the pill and raised it to Asher's lips. Asher swallowed, though his throat was dry and he felt like he was choking on it. His eyes flicked to his crooked fingers and back to Master, and his mouth opened to ask in a tenative tone. "Was I- good?"</p><p>"You are now," he said, picking up that folded cloth and raising it too to Asher's mouth. "Bite down. I don't want to hear you scream."</p><p>Asher's heart beat increasingly faster as he did so, the material of the cloth uncomfortable on his teeth and in his already dry mouth. His breathing now came quick and nearly panicked through his nose as his hand was picked up.</p><p>When Master re-broke the first bone with a quick snap, it was so fast that Asher barely registered what happened before his body moved instinctively and jumped back, nearly yanking his hand away from Master. A choked back scream was muffled by the cloth, and pain clouded his vision so strongly for a moment he was barely aware of the finger being splinted.</p><p>Master's lips were moving, but Asher could barely understand him through his heartbeat racing in his ears and his desperate attempts to keep breathing. The second finger hurt worse than the first, and Asher this time doubled over, choking on the dry cloth in his mouth and watching his tears stream off his face and onto his folded legs.</p><p>The third finger being rebroken and splinted simply rolled over into the haze of pain that had long since overwhelmed Asher, and if he had screamed again he couldn't tell.</p><p>When he blinked open his tear-filled eyes, a gentle hand was stroking his hair as he was guided to lay down, and Asher relaxed into the feeling, allowing it to chase away the painful throbbing in his fingers. He tried to stop his tears and be grateful for the reward he had been given, to push past the confusing feelings and all the pain as much as he could because he had been good, Master said so, and so the pain would stop soon, as long as he kept being good. And maybe, if he was good enough, he'd never have to go through this again. If he was good enough. If he was good.</p>
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